Scolopendra viridis
Florida Blueleg Centipede: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A small native Scolopendra with blue-washed legs over a slate-olive body, and the reason it earns a Spice 4 is not size, it is that people get careless with a three-inch centipede. It is fast, it is strong, the bite is genuinely painful, and it will find any gap in the enclosure you did not know was there. Deep diggable substrate with a moisture gradient, bark cover, a locking lid, and long tongs. Know where the animal is before the lid comes off. Keep it spicy. - Big Z
Group: CentipedesDifficulty: Spice 4: AdvancedSetup: Semi-arid terrestrial centipede with deep diggable substrate and a locking lidHandling: Never, at any size, for any reason. Tongs and a lidded catch cup only.
Use This Guide Safely
- Confirm the exact animal. Match this guide to the species, locality, size, and life stage on your label. If the ID is uncertain, use the more conservative part of the range and ask before changing the setup.
- Change one thing at a time. Treat temperature and humidity as target zones, then watch posture, burrowing, drinking, feeding, and molt behavior before making another adjustment.
- Respect the handling boundary. If the guide says no handling, fast, defensive, or medically significant, plan transfers with catch cups, locked lids, and no bare hands. For serious bites, stings, or symptoms, seek emergency medical care.
Quick Snapshot
| Temperature | 72-82F working room range. Southeastern US origin covers a wide seasonal range and it tolerates ordinary household temperatures well, including a night drop. Avoid a concentrated hot spot; a centipede that cannot escape heat will burrow to the bottom and stay there. |
|---|---|
| Humidity | No numeric % target. Manage by method: run a gradient, keeping one end of the substrate lightly damp and the other end dry, and let the animal choose. Keep a shallow water dish full. Ventilate at substrate level. A uniformly wet enclosure causes fungal and mite problems; a uniformly dry one causes a failed molt. |
| Setup Type | Semi-arid terrestrial centipede with deep diggable substrate and a locking lid |
| Substrate | 3-5 in of firmly packed, diggable coco fiber and topsoil that holds a tunnel. This species burrows and will spend most daylight hours underground. Add bark or flat cork as surface cover. Pack it firm rather than leaving it loose, so the tunnels hold and the animal is not constantly re-excavating. |
| Feeding | One appropriately sized live prey item every 5-10 days, adjusted by body condition. Crickets and roaches are both taken readily. Offer with long tongs at the burrow entrance or drop and withdraw immediately. Remove uneaten prey within 24 hours. Withhold entirely when the animal seals itself in or stops responding, which usually signals premolt. |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 4: Advanced |
| Handling | Never, at any size, for any reason. Tongs and a lidded catch cup only. |
Humidity zones: Very Low under 30% - Low 30-60% - Low-Moderate 40-70% - Moderate 60-80% - Moderate-High 70-85% - High 80%+ - Very High 90%+
Enclosure Format / Size Class
- Pedeling: small deep enclosure with packed substrate, damp gradient, prey scaled well down, lid seal checked obsessively
- Adult: terrestrial enclosure with 3-5 in packed substrate, bark cover, water dish, and a positively locking lid
- Size not supplied for this arrival - assign the lane once the animal is measured
Warnings First
- ESCAPE IS THE PRIMARY RISK. Centipedes flatten and exploit gaps a keeper would swear were too small. Use a locking lid and check the seal at every maintenance.
- The forcipule bite is venomous and reported as sharply painful even from a small animal, with local swelling. Not generally considered medically significant for a healthy adult, but there is no reason to test it.
- NO handling, ever, at any size. Transfers happen with long tongs and a lidded catch cup.
- It is fast and it climbs better than its build suggests. Do not assume a smooth-walled enclosure is enough on its own.
- An escaped centipede in a home is a genuine problem, not an inconvenience. Prevention is the whole strategy.
- Keep the enclosure out of reach of children and pets regardless of how secure the lid is.
Simple Care
- 72-82F is fine, no supplemental heat needed in a normally heated room.
- 3-5 in of firmly packed diggable substrate. It will live underground.
- Run a moisture gradient: one damp end, one dry end. Let it choose.
- Bark or flat cork as surface cover, plus a shallow full water dish.
- A LOCKING lid. Not a resting lid, not a taped lid.
- Feed with long tongs every 5-10 days and pull uneaten prey within 24 hours.
- Locate the animal before opening the enclosure, every single time.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Lid security is the single most important design decision for any Scolopendra and outranks every aesthetic consideration.
- Substrate is packed firm rather than left loose so tunnels hold their shape; a centipede in loose substrate never settles and stays surface-active, which raises escape risk at every opening.
- The moisture gradient replaces a humidity target because the animal will self-select far more accurately than a gauge reading will guide you.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Cadence is conservative genus-level practice keyed to body condition rather than a species-specific published schedule.
- Long tongs are a safety requirement rather than a convenience. A feeding response from a centipede is fast and indiscriminate about what it lands on.
- Sealing itself in and refusing food is normal premolt behaviour. Remove all live prey at that point, because a molting centipede is defenceless against crickets.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Southeastern United States, principally Florida and the Gulf coastal plain, extending into parts of the Caribbean and Central America. The supplier provided no collection locality for the purchased animal, so no finer claim is made.
- Habitat translation: Southeastern US leaf litter and sandy soil becomes a terrestrial enclosure with 3-5 in of firmly packed diggable substrate, a damp-to-dry moisture gradient, flat bark cover, a shallow water dish, and a positively locking lid. Labeled synthesis of general Scolopendra captive practice and Big Z's house standards.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Scolopendra viridis Say, 1821 is a native southeastern US species. Colour is variable across its range, and the blue leg wash that gives it the trade name is not present on every individual.
- Small size correlates with keeper complacency rather than with reduced risk. Big Z's Spice 4 rating for this animal is deliberate and reflects escape potential and bite severity, not body length.
- This animal arrived without a measured size. Per Big Z's intake standard the product carries a needs-size tag and the guide leaves the size lane open rather than guessing.
- No sex, locality, or life stage was supplied.